The Beatles will be remembered not only for their considerable contribution as songwriters and recording artists, but also as the most remarkable cultural and sociological phenomenon of their time. During the 1960's they seemed to transform, however unwittingly, the look, sound, and style of at least one generation. They had, of course, a lot of help from a great many friends—but it was more than anyone else, John, Paul, George, and Ringo who set in motion the forces that made a whole era what it was, and, by extension, what it is today.

The impact the Beatles made is incalculable, not only in popular music and in every other fact of the music business—be it album cover design, the quality of recorded sound, or the size of the crowds—but also in innumerable other areas. They were among the first major public figures of our time...